


Industrial Silence

by Maone



Category: Alarm für Cobra 11
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Horror, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:48:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27298921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maone/pseuds/Maone
Summary: Captured and held in the dark, Andre and Semir become involuntary participants of training for special soldiers called the Burrowers.
Relationships: André Fux/Semir Gerkhan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

It’s been a late cold night in early October. The streets of Cologne had been empty at this hour with everybody in the warmth of their homes while two lone figures stood on a dark road with their backs pressed against the side of a blue Mercedes.

“Tell me again why are  **we** the ones waiting for a street gang and not the city police?” Semir breathed on his hands to warm them up. The smoke from the surrounding 19th-century houses filled the air with a putrid smell of last-minute scavenged fuel in the form of cardboard boxes and newspapers.

His lover didn’t appear to be phased by the smell or the cold, used to it from where he came from. He wore his woolen sweater and open black coat, while Semir shivered in his three layers of clothing beside him, his hands slowly but surely turning into pointy icicles.

“Because the cop they assigned for this is a friend of mine and her partner is near retirement age, not to mention that none of the other cops from their district wanted to deal with this,” Andre said, he knew Semir wasn’t too enthusiastic about this, but he refused to leave his friend hanging.

“Didn’t you say they were scared?”

“Apparently, they’re just not fond of this district,” Andre raised his hand to look at his watch, squinting to see anything in the pitch darkness.

“It’s nearly midnight,” Semir helped him and shivered again,“ we’ve already been here for two hours, it honestly feels much longer.” He added unhappily and annoyed that his hands were still freezing despite his warming efforts, took a hold of Andre’s hand and shoved them both in his pocket, his partner slowly turned to look at him and his currently indisposed limb.

“You didn’t have to come with me, I told you I’d be just fine on my own.” 

“No offense,” Semir sniffed, his left side already warming up, at last, it came in handy that Andre was a walking furnace. “But I’ve heard that one before and how it ended up? Two weeks in ICU, this is why I don’t get you refusing to have a partner, you need someone to watch your back.”

“There’s nothing to worry about here, we’re just observing, and anyway, I’ve got you and Tom, don’t I?” Andre’s smirk was hidden in the dark, so was Semir’s scowl.

“Engelhardt’s going to force one on you eventually.”

He didn’t see his partner roll his eyes but he was certain that’s exactly what happened.

\----

Another hour passed and Semir was sure he lost feeling to his feet by now. Andre suggested that they get back in the car since enough time had passed by now and Semir gratefully agreed.

Someone must have tipped them off, Andre thought, he knew most of the street gangs of Cologne and knew if they didn’t show up now, they either wouldn’t or moved to a different location and there was no point in standing around any longer.

As he walked to the passenger door, something caught his eye on the opposite side of the street where a small narrow alley formed between two abandoned houses. He stopped and turned his full attention to the figure that stood there now. With the street lamp illuminating it, he could see the figure was facing their direction and must have been staring at them for a while.

“Andre,” Semir’s voice was quiet, but the Alpha made a sound of acknowledgment.

The figure was blending with its environment well enough, but Andre was sure he looked in that direction multiple times in the past three hours and never saw anyone. Whoever this was, he was completely still considering his very light outfit of what seemed to be a hoodie and jeans. It was barely above zero tonight, not the most suitable weather to go out like that. It could be one of the gang members.

Andre took one look around to check if anyone else accompanied the individual but saw no sign of any other person nearby, so he closed the car door again and walked around, fully intending to have a talk with this guy. 

Before he could do that Semir grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

“What?” The Alpha queried, confused, and irritated. He couldn’t see Semir’s face, but Andre could feel the increasing worry his partner was experiencing.

“I don’t like this at all. Can’t we just leave?” Semir suggested, glancing at the individual still staring at them.

“Why?” Andre asked,” I just want to see what he wants.”

But his lover’s grip wouldn’t ease and Semir continued to pull him back.

“No, just don’t, let’s keep a distance.” He shook his head.

Before Andre had the chance to respond, they were blinded by a set of headlights coming from behind the guy in the alley and heard a sound they were both all too familiar with.

A revving engine.

The vehicle sounding awfully a lot like a large SUV sounded closer and closer with each second and when Andre’s eyes finally adjusted to the blinding light, he realized the man was now gone.

What the hell was going on?

The car was getting closer, he could hear the sound of tires crunching over the fallen leaves, creeping towards them at an unsettling pace. Andre was trying to see the driver, but that was impossible, the light was way too bright, and white spots were already flashing before his eyes.

Was it the gang’s doing? Were they trying to scare them off? And how would they know they were cops anyway?

“What is it doing?” He heard Semir’s voice beside him and it snapped him back to reality, the vehicle suddenly revved again and began to speed up, before it could hit them, Andre grabbed a hold of his equally blinded partner and pulled him out of the way. He felt the sudden breeze and the following impact to the side of his Mercedes when it was rammed by the charging car. The sound of broken glass and bent metal echoed through the dark empty street, causing some windows around the neighbourhood to light up at the commotion.

Not wanting to wait around for any more unexpected surprise, the two of them drew their guns and backed to a nearby corner for cover. No shots were fired though and the car remained standing in its spot. They couldn’t see inside with its blackened windows, but the engine was still running.

“Has he lost his mind? We have to check on him,” Semir uttered and already made to move towards the car when they heard another loud rev and Semir stopped dead in his tracks, whipping around to see another set of blinding lights behind them as another SUV turned the corner.

They exchanged a startled look.

“What kind of a game is this-?” Andre hissed, both of them were forced to leave their cover as the car picked up on speed.

As they ran into the street, they were met with several figures now standing near the first crashed car and staring at them.

Semir bumped into his lover’s chest when he took an abrupt step back, forcing Andre to do the same.

The group of strangers said nothing and just as the man in the alley before, simply stared at them and that annoyed the hell out of Andre.

“What the hell do you want?!” He snapped.

It was too dark to see their expressions, all Andre could see were their almost too formal looking matching suits, definitely not your typical street thugs.

No unruly teenagers hunting for drugs either.

Andre could feel something behind them, he wasn’t sure why his brain jumped to something and not someone, but his instinct told him to turn around and away from the creepy observers and there in the distance under a lamp light he saw what he could only describe as a large grotesque statue.

Tall heavy muscular man with exposed chest and head covered in some kind of a mask, what caught Andre’s attention right away was the large machete he was clutching in his heavily scarred hand.

The man let out a low growl and Andre felt Semir immediately flinch in front of him and held him before he could back into the group of people ahead of them.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

Another guttural growl filled the cold night followed by a rattle of chains, drawing Andre’s attention. The man seemingly tried to move towards them but was stopped abruptly with a chain wrapped around his throat.

Like a wild animal.

At last, the scent caught up to Andre and the Alpha in him was absolutely losing it, clawing for control.

It was another superior Alpha, and with the heavy scent, he was giving off, wanted nothing more than to kill.

“Let’s get out of here,” Semir urged his partner as Andre’s control began to slip, intimidated by the competition and he knew now was not the time to be territorial, he shook his head in an attempt to gather his bearings when Semir was already dragging him aside, desperate to get away from the threat.

Andre didn’t want to leave though, he wanted to deal with the guy, his muscles were flexing with a desire to fight and it almost scared him how out of control his senses were getting. The only thing keeping him from going feral was Semir’s direct effort to leave the scene, Andre could feel his fear and it was hard not to act upon it as he wanted to.

But they didn’t even make it to the other side of the road when Andre felt something sharp hit him in the back of his shoulder and almost instantly lost control over his limbs, his legs giving out underneath him and his grip on Semir slipping against his will. The last thing he saw was the terrified look on his mate’s face and the fading scream that followed.

And then he felt nothing.

\-----

The group of men came to a standing circle around the fallen duo.

“They are not the ones we had enlisted,” one of them said while the other one pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“No, they’re much better,” he smiled and continued on when he heard a voice on the other line,” It’s me, we’ve got two males---yes, I know, but you’ll like this,” he knelt down by the unconscious pair with the smaller one’s hand wrapped in a loose hold with his partner’s.

“We’ve got an Alpha and an Omega.”

He snapped the phone shut with a pleasing smile and moved back while his companions gathered their captives.


	2. Chapter 2

Andre came to with a start, his head throbbed and his whole body ached like he was thrown around in the duration of his unconsciousness. He ran his hand down his face slowly and pushed himself up into a sitting position, noting the cold concrete ground underneath him and the odd musty, earthy smell combined with something he couldn't identify for the time being.

A shiver ran through his body and he realized he was only wearing his grey short-sleeved v-neck. Looking at his surroundings didn’t tell him much, it was too dark, but he could see he was in a large room with four construction pillars protruding from the ground and going high up until they’ve become swallowed by the dark as if he was in some kind of a hole. The light was scarce, coming from four sources in each corner of the large empty room, but it was so weak it only illuminated a small circle around itself. Slowly, Andre’s thoughts gathered from the mush they’ve been and the Alpha had a moment of recollection.

He decided to help out his friend from the city police, then that guy appeared, the cars... He felt an itch in the back of his shoulder and reached over to scratch it, brushing over the slightly raised skin. That gave him a pause. He ran his finger over the bump again as foggy memories swam through his mind.

The other superior Alpha staring them down, giving off that threatening scent and making Andre’s senses go crazy with the need to fight, to protect---

\----

_ Protect what? _

He groaned, his head ached so bad.

The cold damp floor forced him to stagger to his feet when whatever he was drugged with began to wear off.

Up to this point, he believed he was alone, but then, an uncomfortably soft voice made him freeze halfway through standing up.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, although that’s probably not the most truthful way to put it."

Andre’s attention shifted to a figure sitting in the corner of the room, weak light barely licking at the man's exposed feet. Upon seeing Andre’s gaze finally upon him, he slowly stood up, taking a cautious step closer to the officer.

As far as Andre could tell, the man of Asian descend must have been here for a while, dressed in what would be under clean circumstances a suit. His jacket had been pierced with multiple clean cuts with his pants suffering the same fate. He was covered in splotches of some kind of dark stains on his exposed and unusually pale skin. He looked like he went through hell. This place wasn’t far from looking like one.

“Where are we?” Andre had many questions on his tongue, but he needed to get over the basics first. His thoughts still weren’t all there much to his annoyance.

The man stared at him with dark brown eyes, his fingers playing with the torn corner of his shirt. Expression full of curiosity drawn over his face as he silently studied Andre who grew increasingly more unsettled. He didn’t look sane, frankly, Andre couldn't imagine anyone keeping their sanity if they were stuck down here longer than a day.

He had no idea how long he’d been there for that matter.

The man didn't grace him with a reply right away, dark eyes giving him a searching look as if he contemplated what to say before he said it and as much as Andre considered himself to be a patient man, the scrambled memories and unknown surroundings left him on the edge. He wanted nothing more than to get out.

"Nice talk, but I really don’t have the time for this," It was frustrating, he hated being kept in the dark, literally and figuratively.

The man stopped playing with his shirt and tilted his head as if he couldn’t look any more disturbing than he did already.

“You don’t have the time, huh?” He parroted and slowly rose to his feet, revealing to Andre his thin, starved figure as he approached him. He wasn’t giving off any scent, so he was a Beta, but the stare he graced Andre with looked threatening enough.” You’ve got no idea how much truth is in that statement.”

At Andre’s narrowed look, the man nodded at something over his shoulder, Andre turned and saw where the cold musty air was coming from then, there, hiding in the shadow ahead were the metal bars of what appeared to be a gate, definitely some kind of an opening to this room.

"The second that gate opens, there’s a strong likelihood that one of us isn’t going to come back. The Burrowers are out there and they’re hunting us like wild ducks," the man said, his eyes growing wide, "Do you think you can hide when you can't see? They don’t need to see, they’ll hear you coming and once they do, that’s it, you’re dead."

If Andre was disturbed before, he was beyond that now. The guy was clearly insane and there was no way he’d get anything sensible out of him, he’d just have to figure a way out himself.

He stalked towards the gate, aware of the eyes burning into his back. 

Placing his hands on the cold metal, he could feel a draft coming from the other side, but one glance at the large structure separating him from the hallway beyond it, made it clear he wouldn’t be able to budge this no matter how much he’d try.

“When do they open the gate?” He asked, if the guy experienced this event before, he’d know.

“Eager, are we?” He could hear the sneer in the man’s voice. “When everyone is ready is when they open them all, there are many of the likes of you and me. In pairs, scattered all around for the Burrowers to find. Every man holds his own head though, everyone else is a burden and only drags you down. They all are about compassion, companionship, and no endurance, so in the end, only the smart ones survive,” He sighed, “My partner has always been too loud, I knew the first day here we stood no chance, so I went my way without looking behind and he called after me, so loudly---it didn’t take long for them to find him then and I got away easily, but it was awful, really, would you believe I heard him all the way here ‘till the next day? Sometimes I feel like I still hear him…”

But Andre was no longer listening to him. At the bare mention of a partner, his memories came shooting back like a bullet.

I don’t like this at all. Can’t we just leave?

Cold dread washed over him and wide startled eyes turned back towards the darkness beyond the gate.

“Semir--” He couldn’t feel his mate at all since he regained consciousness. What happened to him? What did they do to him? Anger and fear filled his thoughts. Not being able to feel his mate could only mean two things, he was either unconscious or…

“Semir?" The man repeated curiously and then clicked his tongue, understanding, "Ah, your partner, then. Well, then, that is bound to make this hunt definitely interesting, it always is when they split the partners up. Let me give you a tip, only worry about yourself, makes it easier when you hear them die," the man said and Andre clenched his fist, "There’s nothing you can do for him, if he can’t manage his own, he stands no chance anyway, just hope his end will be quicker than mine’s."

Andre's fist went flying before he gave it any rational thought, but despite his weakened state, the man was still alert enough to dodge it and jump back, only earning himself a snarl from the agitated Alpha.

"You should be glad that I graced you with the knowledge of what's about to happen. I didn't survive this place for so long to be taken down by someone who barely understands the concept of fighting for his life. If you really wanted to live, you wouldn't even blink at the thought of your partner's death, they do nothing but drag you down, your own survival is the only thing that should matter to you." The man hissed and it was then when a loud haunting groaning sound of metal echoed down the hallway and Andre got a strong whiff of the smell he couldn’t put his finger on earlier. Decomposition. "You have no idea what horrors await you beyond this gate, but you’ll find out soon enough. You might get lucky enough to die before your partner after all-"

“How about I give you a hand with that instead?” Andre snarled, taking a step towards him.

Just then, the gate made a loud creaking noise, stopping Andre from another attempt at attacking the guy, as he stared at the bars slowly rising up, removing the only barrier between him and the darkness ahead.

The man slowly made his way towards the gate. Unafraid. He already knew what's in there after all.

"Be so kind to keep your mouth shut so we don’t both don’t die before moving past the threshold," He whispered and disappeared into the darkness before he could receive another hateful glare.

Andre took a few careful steps forward, his heart racing with adrenaline building up, but he needed to stay in control if he was going to get through this alive and find his mate.

_ There’s nothing you can do for him, worry about yourself _ . The man’s voice echoed in his head.

He furrowed his brow.

_ Like hell I will. _

And with that, he walked into the darkness.

So, it began.

\------

This place really gave the word 'dark' a whole new meaning. Even as Andre slowly adjusted to it, he struggled to see inches in front of him. How can anyone get realistically around this place without walking into a wall at every other step? The echo of his steps made it even worse, after all, he was apparently being stalked. His unpleasant companion already vanished through the maze of halls that were laid all around him, navigating through them with ease after going through the same process multiple times before.

That was an advantage Andre was badly missing here. He felt so unbalanced as he carefully inched forward, wherever he was heading. He reached to his side when he got the feeling there might be one and felt a metal wall against his palm, he used it as his guiding point, sliding his hand along, following it at each curve, hoping it would lead him, well...somewhere.

He genuinely hoped Semir was okay, up to this point he still couldn’t sense his mate, but the man said everyone was released when ready and fortunately, he has yet to hear any cries or screams of pain. He wasn't sure if the silence was a good thing either though, while he didn't hear the potential death of his partner, neither did he hear the  _ Burrowers _ , as the man called them. For now, all he heard were his steps, echoing through the halls. The place sounded large. Still, Andre had no clue where could this be.

As he made it around another corner, he felt something at his feet and nearly tripped right over it, when it squelched and released an awful odor under his feet he nearly gagged and reached out with his foot, feeling for what the hell it was.

The softness combined with something hard, that Andre could only assume were the remnants of a human body, was enough of an answer to his question. So the guy wasn’t kidding, they were killing people out there. Carefully stepping over the remains, Andre continued on, the worry for his mate only growing stronger.

He didn't really know where he was headed to, he just blindly followed where the halls led him, occasionally feeling draft at his feet from what he guessed were vents. Could this have been some sort of a bunker maybe? He knew there were one or two in the outskirts of Cologne.

Why did it have to be so damn dark-

He heard a loud bang and stopped moving, freezing in place and remaining still while he waited for something to follow.

A loud scream carried through the halls and Andre had to cover his ears as the sound bounced off the walls around him, doubling in strength, the absolute terror within it only made him dread what awaited ahead as he involuntarily listened to the first murder. The screams died to gurgling and moaning, until it was silent yet again and the halls were once more enveloped in deathly silence.

Andre took a sharp intake of breath. This wasn’t Semir, if his mate was harmed in any way, he’d feel it.

Despite being unable to sense Semir at all since being down here, he took solace in the possibility he might be somewhere safe out there. Their bond had not been severed.

Wouldn’t be.

Balling his hand into a fist, he began to move once again. There had to be a way out.

Something has changed after the scream, as Andre continued at first he thought it was just his imagination messing with him from being in silence for so long, but it quickly became louder, it was far, but it was a continuous noise and while he had no idea what it was, it didn’t sound like anything meaning well. Anything brave enough to be loud in this place, had to be confident, and confident might as well mean the fucking Burrowers and they were the last thing he'd want to come across now.

Either way, with one person down somewhere ahead, it narrowed Andre’s possible routes to take, don’t go straight ahead, that he knew for sure, so when his hand ran out of wall, he took the next corner to the left instead and continued until the repetitive sound faded in the distance. Once again his nose was hit with the smell of rotting flesh and he took that as a cue to slow down just in case there was another body ahead.

This one smelled absolutely horrible, the bodily fluids were so much more intense that Andre had a feeling this one might be recent, whoever or whatever it was.

As soon as the tip of his shoe bumped into something, he heard a squelch and the sound of ripping, and something fell off and he stood there as it rolled and rolled until it bumped against the opposite wall accompanied by a steady drip.

Not wanting to question what the hell that was, he made one large step, hoping he crossed the body and kept walking.

This hallway appeared much narrower and Andre found it turning sharp right shortly after walking several steps ahead. Once again, he heard the noise from earlier.

But now it was much closer, coming from the direction ahead of him. It was the sound of steel dragging along the metal ground, Andre’s brow furrowed, this sounded like it was only steps away from him, in the darkness ahead, followed by deep muffled breathing. Andre stopped moving, stopped breathing as it grew closer and closer towards him, he pressed himself against the wall, quietly moving backwards, away from the approaching sound.

He tried to move as fast as he could without his steps overpowering the sound of Burrower's weapon against the floor, because he was sure this was exactly what he thought it was.

His hand reached behind him, he knew the fucking corpse was going to be not far behind and if he tripped over it, he might as well be dead. His breath ragged, sweat forming on his forehead in a concentration of his every step. Don’t screw it up now, don’t screw it up-

As soon as he smelled the body again, he instinctively took one large step back and shortly after he did so, he could hear the Burrower’s weapon hit the body and he stopped. With the sound of metal scraping stopping, Andre stopped too and waited.

The muffled breathing heaved as the Burrower knelt and made a disgruntled noise before moving back up. The metal scraping returned then, but much to Andre’s relief, in the opposite direction.

He didn’t even know he was holding his breath when he started to feel lightheaded and took a harsh intake of breath, leaning against the wall with his arms on his knees.

That was close. Too damn close.

He was sure he escaped death this time, but how many times could he afford to be lucky?

\----

The sound became his sight as the distant noise of steel against the metal floor carried continuously from that point on. Were they trying to scare them? To make them panic, screw up, and reveal their position? Was this some sort of a mental game? If it was, it was working.

Andre had no idea how long was he wandering around, but he had yet to hear another scream and that could only mean that the others were still successfully holding up as well. He knew Semir could hide well enough, they’ve had their fair share of creeping around when trying to avoid being spotted by various criminals and Semir always held up on his own. That creep though? Well, that guy was a special case of his own, Andre only hoped that he wouldn't walk into him first, or worse, Semir would. He felt the anger rising in him at the thought of this guy using Semir’s kindness to save his own neck. If it ever came to that, Andre would make sure he survived this long enough to snap that guy's neck personally. The thought only fueled him to keep going. He wasn't going to get outlived by that psychopath.

Andre stopped suddenly when he felt a change.

It wasn’t another noise in the distance, it wasn't the smell of another rotting body.

He felt another presence, frantically pulling him towards it and knew right away he needed to do just that.

His heart began to race with renewed adrenaline and thoughts of survival were completely shoved aside when he recognized his mate’s desperation and fear, calling out to him so strongly that Andre’s legs pretty much moved on their own towards the call.

He was by the throat of one of the smaller tunnels when he heard the loud steps, someone was running and heading down one of the larger main halls of this maze. Which was a horrible idea, but as the footsteps grew louder, Andre began to hear something else, the distinctive steel against the floor.

With the bond strengthening, Andre was almost certain his mate was the one running. The Burrower must have spotted him and pursued him and by the increased panic he was getting from their bond, it wouldn’t be easy for both of them to stay hidden, but he couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. 

Semir was nearly there.

Having no plan whatsoever, Andre quietly cursed and walked out of his safe spot, reaching with his hand and praying for a brief moment he was close enough to do this when he felt the sudden bodily impact and quickly grabbed his mate’s arm, unceremoniously dragging him to the small tunnel. He winced at the way his mate’s emotions shifted suddenly and before he managed to utter a word to ensure he was okay, he was stopped in his efforts with a desperate but much-welcomed kiss.

For a split moment, Andre forgot where they were and the rapidly incoming threat and just wrapped his arms around the smaller man and held him close, returning the kiss with vigor.

The Alpha within him filled his thoughts with relief and excitement at being reunited with his mate at last, holding his cold but very much alive body close to his so tightly it must have hurt, but if it did, Semir didn’t show it. His arms clutched at Andre’s shoulders just as painfully, the relief at finally being together apparent in him too.

They stopped only when the sound of steel grew impossibly loud right beside them and Andre quickly shuffled them further away from the main hallway, instinctively moving in front of Semir as if he could protect him from whatever would be coming their way.

The sound stopped for a moment then and they sat still, waiting for whatever was to happen next, Semir found Andre’s hand in the dark and held it tightly, ensuring that if Andre did anything, it would be the end for them both.

So he remained still.

And as crazy and unlikely it seemed, the Burrower simply grunted and began walking back the way he came from, giving up.

They sat there with restrained breath until the sound of steel dragging along the ground felt far enough for them to finally relax and both practically gasped for air then.

“Come here, come here,” Semir demanded with a desperate voice and wrapped his arms around Andre’s shoulders again, hugging him tightly.

"Are you alright?" Andre asked, running his arm up and down his mate’s back trying to comfort both him and himself, really.

They weren’t used to this sort of separation.

"I’m fine, they knocked me out right after you, but it’s already worn off. What’s going on here? Do you know where we are?" Semir whispered back. Andre shook his head.

“No idea, but we need to get out.”

"Yeah...that’s not going to be easy," Semir sighed and turned his head towards the main hallway which was now quiet once more. Andre eased his grip on him as soon as Semir did the same and they moved to stand up.

"There’s gotta be an exit somewhere." Andre said and peeked around the corner to ensure nobody was around. “Have you come across anyone else?”

"The guy I was with in the cell, but-” Semir’s voice trailed off and Andre looked back in his direction. He couldn’t see his face whatsoever, going only by the feel of his hand which they now held tightly together.

“Was that the scream a while back?” Andre asked.

“He was in front of me one moment and then he was just...gone, like that. They’re using some kind of a machete, I think, nearly got me once with it.” Semir explained.

"Let’s just stay close," Andre pulled him closer as he said so, fully intending to stay true to his own words. Despite what the crazy guy said, he had no intention of letting go of Semir now that they were finally together once more.

They barely made it down a short length of the large hall when a loud banging noise sounded right behind them and they turned around in startlement.

The dreaded sound of steel against ground quickly joined it and with seconds to spare, the pair quickly crossed to the other side of the hall until their backs pressed against the wall and Andre led them along until he could feel the corner disappearing and they had a spot to hide in.

Both waited silently and anxiously, holding their breaths as the Burrower came to an abrupt stop in the spot where the banging came from moments ago and remained there for a long moment until they heard him shift and much to Andre’s annoyance, move in their direction.

He pulled Semir along with their combined steps only barely drowned out by the sound of the machete on the ground, this tunnel was too narrow for them to let the Burrower pass by them without risking he’d bump right into them, so Andre’s hand frantically moved along the wall looking for another corner.

But when he found the sharp turn in the wall, he was stunned to find out it led nowhere. They were at a dead end.

He fucked up.

He just led them to their death.

The scraping grew louder, the grunting closer and Andre could almost tell Semir was staring at him with that horrified gaze he was feeling right about now.

That was it.

All Andre could think of was squeezing his mate’s hand and-

Clank.

Clank.Clank.Clank.

The scraping stopped abruptly and the Burrower stopped moving. Andre was standing deadly still, clutching Semir’s hand in an iron grip when the killer mere steps in front of them suddenly seemed to turn around and follow the foreign sound instead, the scraping sound returning as he walked and growing distant each passing moment until it was gone altogether.

Andre felt like he was born again.

“I’m probably not going to find that again,” Semir whispered beside him and Andre turned to him with a look of utter disbelief.

“That was you? What did you throw?” He asked breathlessly.

Semir seemed to hesitate for a bit.

“My wedding ring, I didn’t have anything else at hand, sorry” He muttered regretfully.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Andre almost laughed and blindly moved his hand in the pitch dark until he found his mate’s face and pressed a kiss to his lips. “We’ll just get a new one.”

They walked in silence, grip tight between their hands. The lack of Burrowers made Andre restless, he'd rather have those creepy fuckers wandering around, denting their weapons against the floor, rather than walk into one of them standing behind a corner.

Suddenly a very unexpected sight appeared in front of them as they turned yet another corner. Bright light coming from one of the hallways, an actual proper light. They headed towards it, surprised but cautious, it could still be a trap and they survived long enough to want to keep it that way. They took a peek around the corner, adjusting to the light, before they saw a door that was slightly ajar.

"I don’t wanna be negative, but this looks almost too good to be true," Semir whispered.

“Anything looks good after the crap we just went through,” Andre grumbled.

As they moved closer to it, they could see that the lock was broken, they exchanged a look now that they could finally see each other. Carefully, Andre pushed the door open, not stepping in until they could see what was in there. It was a small room with another, thick metal door with a window at the end of it, a door that was much to their luck, also ajar. They stepped inside, Semir carefully shutting the first door behind them. The room had nothing of interest in it, besides a table and cameras that were likely monitoring the progress in the maze and so they moved to the more sturdy door. Once they opened those, they were greeted with what must have been the final hallway out of this maze, only stopped with one final gate, but that wasn't the only thing that was in there.

"How did you get here? You should have been still in there, being chased until your imminent death, how did you find me?! This is impossible!"

It was the goddamn crazy guy, with a dead guard at his feet.

"Stop yelling, you're gonna get us killed!" Semir gestured at him to keep it down, but it was no use. The man was absolutely besides himself.

Andre was seething as he took a step closer to the man, who was about to unlock the final gate holding him from his freedom with the keys he must have found in the previous room.

"You were planning this all along, weren't you? You knew about the exit, you knew when it'll be safe to get in."

"You ruined it all!"

"Who the hell is this guy..." Semir muttered beside Andre.

"He was leading them to us, the banging earlier....No wonder that he was so convinced that we'd die." Andre said, voice filled with disbelief.

"Now we're all going to die because of you." The man hissed.

Sound of steel against the metal floor made them all turn to the door separating them from the maze.

"Oh shit" Semir whispered and turned to look at Andre whose eyes widened when he caught the whiff of the familiar scent from earlier.

It was the superior Alpha again.

The man lurching at them was what made them snap out of it, he grabbed Semir in a chokehold and screamed.

"I am not dying here with you, you hear me? You deserve it, not me! I worked my ass off to get here!"

Semir gasped for air as Andre lunged for the man's throat until he dropped his hold on Semir. Both men began to fight, oblivious to the sound of Burrower coming near. As soon as Semir recovered, coughing violently, the door broke down to splinters as the Burrower walked through, but immediately screamed and covered his eyes as the light hit him. 

Semir’s eyes widened when he realized just how close the Alpha Burrower was to him now.

"You'll die here, accept it, your fate's been sealed the moment you stepped into the maze!" The man screamed and Andre made his decision then, grabbing the man and shoving him towards the Burrower, right past Semir. Without any more hesitation, he took a hold of Semir and dragged him towards the metal door. With difficulty they shut it behind them, just as the man began to bang his fist against it, screaming and howling.

"No, you can't kill me! You can't fucking kill me!"

They slowly backed away from the door, watching the scene unfold before them through the small window in the door, as the Burrower recovered, his eyes covered in his mask and the machete in his hand rising above his head as he dragged his feet to the hysterical man banging at the door. Both men watched as the Burrower's weapon went down on the man and he threw his head back and shrieked so loudly as Andre has never heard a person shriek before as blood sprayed on the door, the wall, and the Burrower as he severed the man's arm. The Burrower took a fistful of the man's hair, whose eyes were still fixed on Andre and Semir, still wild and crazy, as he slammed him face-first into a wall. Andre heard a sickening crunch of the man's nose breaking against the force, he was still screaming at the top of his lungs, it was deafening. The Burrower slammed his head against the wall multiple times before throwing the man aside. The man making a last pathetic attempt of escape as the Burrower stomped on his back and began to chop at his kneecaps, blood spraying everywhere, the man helplessly kicking and clawing at the floor, trying to pull himself away, but soon enough his screams were rendered to painful whines as the bloodloss began to take its toll.

When the Burrower cut his legs off, he raised his machete one more time and drove it in the back of the man's neck, silencing him immediately. Andre pushed Semir towards the exit then, aware of just how stunned the Omega was from the display of violence.

He unlocked the gate with the keys the crazy man left behind and ran, holding Semir’s hand once again tight within his until they reached another door and this time the darkness that greeted them was accompanied by the smell of fresh air and moon high in the sky.

They were outside.


	3. Chapter 3

Once they were both outside, they shut the door behind them with a loud bang, both breathing hard from what they’ve just experienced.

Andre tossed the keys aside, knowing they won’t need them anymore and went up the steps from the entrance after Semir, who was already standing on the top and looking around.

Their only source of light was the bright shining moon and a small yellow lightbulb hanging above the entrance which hardly illuminated the stairs.

The visibility was still on the low but it wasn't as bad as it was in the maze, Andre could at least see farther than two steps ahead of him. That was more than enough for now, they just survived a scenario from hell, he wasn’t going to be picky about something so trivial.

The cold would be an issue, they were both stripped to only their pants and shirts and while Andre felt heated enough from earlier, it wouldn’t last for long and the cold will catch up soon enough, so they needed to get going.

“Now pick a direction,” he muttered, looking left and right and seeing nothing but trees and bushes. Forest, of course, it had to be a forest, he had a strange feeling they came across those in their lives a little too often.

“There’s gotta be a road to this place and ideally one with a car,” Semir said, his breath leaving a puff of smoke in the cold air.

Sticking to their rule from earlier, they began walking around the building protruding from the ground, careful to stay quiet, they didn’t know if anyone was around.

The scale of it was rather large for something to remain hidden and Andre wondered where exactly were they that had a structure of this size. He ran a hand through his hair and winced when his finger brushed over a fresh cut, he looked at his hand and saw some blood, it wasn’t too bad though.

“Are you okay?” He looked up when he heard Semir’s voice ahead, he was much further away and Andre figured he must have been lagging behind.

“Fine, you see anything up ahead?” He wiped the blood off on his pants and caught up. Semir was standing by the edge of the bunker and looking towards the concrete leading up to what appeared to be the main entrance.

Moving to stand beside his mate, Andre got a closer look. The concrete road leading to the large tunnel beneath was illuminated by multiple lights yet it still had the abandoned vibe to it, overgrown with forest flora and appearing as if nobody has been there in years.

Looking towards the large metal doors at the throat of the tunnel with a small window slit at the top, it made Andre think this was likely set up to look abandoned and sealed off so no curious visitors would try to enter.

The metal doors there and at the exit they left through were thick enough to muffle any possible sound coming out.

But what the hell was the purpose of this place?

As they walked over to the road leading up to the entrance, they were met with a large electric fence surrounding the whole area, with the main gate being lit up and monitored, with cameras mounted on each side.

“There’s no way we’re getting through that without being fried,” Semir commented morosely.

Andre cursed under his breath, they got out of that crap and now this? He looked around, the fence seemed to be going all around the place.

“We’ll look around, there could be a gap, it doesn’t look maintained well enough.”

“That’s some positive thinking I wouldn’t expect from you,” Semir added and wrapped his arms around himself with a shiver, walking past his husband.

Andre threw a wary look in his direction.

“Would you rather I sat down and cried until we get shot or die of hypothermia?”

Semir fortunately recognized the attempt at humor and chuckled.

“God, if I ever see that I think I’ll just rather shoot myself.”

“What, me crying or freezing to death?” He asked, but a smirk was already tugging at his lips.

“Crying! That’s a terrifying image when Fux sheds a tear the world’s gone to hell,” Semir turned around just as Andre came to a stop before him and pulled him close, the body contact sending a brief shot of warmth through their bodies evoking a shiver.

Andre looked down at his smiling mate with a quirked eyebrow.

“So first you throw away your ring and now you wanna shoot yourself. Is that how you think of your husband?”

“Only the best,” The Omega reached out and ran his finger over his mate’s day old stubble, aware of his own irritating his skin as he leaned in a pressed his lips to the taller man’s, warmth briefly spreading through his cheeks at his mate’s tongue demanding push to deepen the kiss. It definitely wasn’t the most appropriate time to do this, but this was the first time since their ordeal began when they had a moment to spare and appreciate each other’s survival.

They stood there for what only felt like a brief moment to Andre, when they heard a distant bang and quickly separated, Semir’s hand brushed over the cut in Andre’s hair making him hiss and Semir didn’t know where to look first when he saw the blood left on his fingers.

“You’re hurt? You said you were okay-” Semir started, but was abruptly stopped when Andre slapped his hand over his mouth and shushed him, dragging them both out of the light just as a figure appeared near a staircase they went up a while ago.

They crouched right by the building and hid behind one of the protruding vents just as the figure came to standing still at the top of the stairs, his towering form slowly turning around, bloody machete still dripping from its fresh kill.

“It’s that Alpha,” Semir whispered and Andre could feel him trying to ease back on his earlier arousal which caused his scent to grow stronger, the same way it did Andre’s, but Andre was sure the guy couldn’t scent them this far out. The wind had been fortunately at a standstill ever since they got out and it made the cold somewhat more bearable than it would be otherwise.

They watched as the large man stumbled forward and disappeared into the darkness. They turned to each other, exchanging a look when an almost inhuman roar echoed through the darkness, and flashes of spark randomly appeared along with it.

They could see the fence shaking slightly from the way the Burrower was trying to break through it until eventually, it all came to a halt, and once again there was silence.

They waited for a brief moment before slowly getting up to their feet and carefully began to move towards the direction the man disappeared in.

Andre wanted to move ahead, but Semir outstretched his arm and stopped him, shaking his head.

“Let me go first, I can scent him further than you can.” He reasoned and as much as Andre wanted to argue, he was unfortunately correct.

Still, he remained only a touch away from his mate, making sure that if anything went wrong, he had time to get them out of immediate harm’s way.

They continued on until Semir came to a sudden halt and Andre was ready to spring into action, but his mate straightened up then and didn’t seem alerted at all.

“Andre, look,” he whispered and pointed ahead.

Following his line of sight, Andre fully expected to see either a corpse or unconscious form of the Burrower from his attempt at getting through the fence, but instead, they were both staring at an impressive slice through the wire reaching the near top with a sizable hole in between.

“He got through it, I can’t believe it,” Semir breathed and rubbed his arms when another shiver ran through him.

Approaching the newly made way through, they exchanged a look.

“There’s our way out, I guess,” Andre noted.

Semir went through first, careful to avoid the still live wire poking out at the severed sides, the smell of blood was strong when Andre moved in to follow him and he could only assume the Burrower must have been badly injured. That was some good news at least if they were to come across him along the way, ideally he’d drop dead from blood loss before that happened.

As nice as it was that they got out of there, the notion that they were out there in complete darkness and in the middle of nowhere with an armed psychopath, wasn’t as reassuring on the other hand.

Now they were once more relying on minimum visibility and Semir’s hand automatically reached for Andre’s, linking their fingers together as they began to walk along the fence to where the road should be near the main gate.

Andre didn't know how long they'd been walking, he lost his watch after they were captured, but it felt long enough. By now he was pretty damn cold himself, so he was becoming worried about Semir who notoriously couldn’t handle cold weather even if he was dressed up for the weather. Their connected hands was the only source of warmth for them at the moment and Andre honestly couldn’t tell which one of them was shaking more. There was no sign of civilization in sight, but they had started hearing noises, it sounded really far and not specific in any way so at the time they didn't think much of it, it was a forest after all and there were undoubtedly plenty of animals walking around at night. But still they decided to be cautious and stayed out of open areas, sticking to the cover of trees. They didn't talk much, mostly because they were simply too cold to strike up a conversation by this point. 

It gave Andre some time to reflect on the decisions they made before this happened, just how different things might have been if he went alone. How likely would it have been he’d be stuck down there on his own if Semir hadn’t come along? Did the city cops know something was off when they refused to go? Whatever was going on down there, it must have been happening for a long time and the scale of it….

Andre was willing to put his neck on this being part of something much bigger than either of them thought.

But the thought of others knowing more than they were willing to admit and still letting them go ahead on their own pissed him off beyond reason.

It was pure luck that he got out of there with Semir, there was nothing more to it than just pure dumb luck and he was eternally grateful to whichever higher forces had their hands in keeping him and his husband safe, the thought of losing Semir was honestly something Andre would rather leave behind just like this place.

“A-are you okay?” Semir’s voice interrupted his train of thoughts and Andre realized they stopped, his mate’s hand was already moving towards his head until Andre felt a brief pressure to the cut and Semir lowered from his tip toes looking at a napkin he was holding. In the moonlight there only seemed to be a small dark spot.

“Y-you’re still bleeding, but it looks like a s-small cut,” Semir muttered then and folded the napkin, grabbing Andre’s hand again with in a shaky hold.”I h-hope you don’t have a concussion, you’re c-constantly zoning and it’s starting to worry me.”

Andre looked at him with worry when their icy cold hands reunited.”You’re freezing, Semir.”

“Y-yeah, a bit,” Semir nodded, unable to stop the continuous shivering anymore.

Andre pulled him close and breathed hot air on his freezing fingers while rubbing a circle on his back, it really didn’t help much with his own body already hitting its limit, but his mate’s desperate hold on him showed he was doing far worse than he was willing to admit.

If Semir started getting hypothermic now, they’d be done for. Andre knew they had to find a car or a shelter fast or-

It was then when they both heard shouts and remained still, as still as it was possible with the violent shivering. They listened as the shouting continued and a light appeared in the distance, so they quickly moved behind a nearby tree.

"D-do you think they b-belong to those guys from the bunker?" Semir whispered as they saw multiple sources of light popping up when people walked towards their direction.

"Don’t know. We’ll find out." Andre replied and held him close as they hid in the cover of a singular tree, not wanting to waste any warmth he managed to spare.

They waited, watchful of the stranger's movements as their lights got closer and closer, but never aiming at their hiding spot. The closer they got, the clearer the voices became and Andre and Semir could hear the conversation they had over a radio.

"I knew that fucking chinaman was going to screw it up, this is why I kept saying that we should kill them if they survive more than two hunts!"

"Stop dwelling on him, he’s dead now. One of the Burrowers grabbed him right before he got out."

"What about the others? We had eight people down there."

"Francis came across the remains of three, but they still haven't searched the whole maze. If they didn't fuck up the cameras-"

One of the men snarled in annoyance.

"Forget the ones in the maze. Keep looking for the runaways, we’ve got at least two Burrowers on the loose somewhere in the forest,"

The flashlights shone their light in Andre's and Semir’s direction, but passed by them unnoticed and the group continued to walk.

As soon as Andre and Semir were sure they were out of earshot, they left their hiding spot and looked at each other, Andre didn’t miss how tired his partner sounded now.

"C-can be to our advantage,” he said, fighting another violent shiver. Andre tightened his hold on him.

"Goddamn it..." He hissed, looking around, desperate to find somewhere they could warm up. They were so enveloped with getting out of the building they haven’t thought about the below zero temperatures outside and now instead of getting chopped up, they’d freeze to death instead.

The time was passing agonizingly slowly and Andre was grateful his hours of training were paying off in other ways than professionaly, he was handling the coldness much better and despite feeling like an icicle, he was faring better than Semir who despite his own frequent exercise, worsened drastically since the time of their escape passed. They were pausing more frequently now and Semir was no longer making any comments, the effort it took to keep moving was visibly taking its toll.

That’s why when Andre spotted a steady light in the distance which looked a lot like a structure, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Fucking finally.

As they neared what turned out to be a cabin, Andre noticed a car parked nearby. The model being a very familiar black SUV. Not great news, but they’d have to manage, Andre was already practically dragging his mate along with Semir’s strength stretched to its limits. If they didn’t warm up now, it was likely the Omega would collapse altogether.

Aware that he’d have to do this on his own, Andre walked Semir to a nearby large tree and helped him sit down, the Omega looked up at him with confused, dazed look.

“I’ll be right back,” Andre reassured him, surprisingly Semir’s hand managed to grab him before he moved away, weak but still aware enough.

“Where are you going?” He murmured. He was no longer shaking.

That was it, Andre only had one chance to do this, if he didn’t manage to get rid of whoever was inside, they had no other options. Semir’s hypothermia progressed to a dangerous level already and his own body was growing weaker every passing minute. They had to get in there.

Knowing the ultimatum of the situation and the unknown that awaited him, all he could do was press a chaste kiss to the icy cold lips, before pulling away and standing back up.

The kiss must have sent some horrifying thoughts through his mate’s mind because when Andre moved away, Semir was looking up at him with desperate eyes.

“Don’t leave me here.”

That hurt probably more than it should have. But Andre shook his head, more determined than before, he looked away then, knowing he wouldn’t be able to do this if he looked at Semir for another moment.

“I’ll come back.” He promised and not giving his mate another chance to protest, he moved towards the cabin with determination.

It was an awful feeling to leave Semir behind even if it meant only briefly and only now did he realize just how strong their bond have gotten since they reunited in the bunker and remained only a touch away after nearly losing each other for good.

The further Andre moved now to get closer to the cabin, the worse he felt. He knew he was doing this for both of them, he knew it was vital for their survival, but all the more could he feel the intense bond stretching against its will with the Alpha within him fighting him on leaving the vulnerable Omega behind.

 _I’m doing this for a reason_. He reminded the angry Alpha within him. It only snarled back.

He sneaked around the back of the wooden cabin, it was a pretty small, basic building, pretty new too, the wood still smelled fresh. Was this a checkpoint? He thought. It would probably make sense, if they were trying to keep their activities hush-hush. He made his way to the front, pressed against the cabin wall, he poked his head out to see if anyone was out there, fortunately, nobody was, however he did hear voices in the cabin itself.

_Two people?_

He listened some more.

_Sounds like it._

He scanned his surroundings, noticing a lot of rocks laying around. He poked his head out again to check where the entrance to the cabin was. Then he checked the roof.

Right.

This might work.

He picked up a bunch of small stones laying at his feet and quietly made his way to a tree from where he could see the entrance to the cabin, but still generally remained out of the view. He took a deep breath and...

Started throwing the stones over the low roof, behind the cabin, hearing some bounce off the wood. Satisfied, he immediately took a cover behind the tree and waited.

And he didn't wait long, response was almost immediate as two armed men, dressed in black cargo outfit and a bulletproof vest, ran out. That’s when he immediately took his chance and ran for the cabin. He rushed in, eyes frantically searching for anything he could use as a weapon. The room was filled with monitoring cameras that had nothing but static on them, but he wasn't interested in that, not important right now, he went for drawers, cupboards, trying to find something.

He cursed quietly when he could already hear the men heading back and he still had nothing. He was about to hide when he heard a loud noise and both men shouted, turning back, away from the cabin, giving Andre one last chance to search the place. Then he finally saw it.

A gun, an actual handgun under a bunch of papers on the table. 

Without thinking, Andre grabbed it, praying it had ammo. He quickly released the magazine, hearing the commotion outside, much to his relief the handgun was fully loaded and he snapped the magazine back in.

Then the shots started. The wild sounds of AK-47 echoing through the forest and Andre was certain that if anyone was looking for them, they were bound to hear them now.

Andre rushed outside then and to his shock realized what those men were shooting at. The target of their devastating attack was a nearly obliterated tree trunk that had to be only standing by the power of will. You have better fucking not....

He aimed his gun and with two shots, ended the rampage.

Andre ran over to the fallen bodies, kicking at them to make sure they were really dead, but the bullet went clean through both their heads, there was no way they'd survive that. He still kicked their guns away, just to make sure and ran to the destroyed tree, screaming his partner's name.

What the hell did Semir do?!

In his frantic effort to get back to Semir, he didn’t notice the camera on one of the cabins shifting in his direction.

As soon as he made it to the tree, his fears were immediately replaced with relief as two startled eyes met his. The Alpha fell heavily to his knees and wiped the sweat off his brows.

“ _Jesus fucking christ_ ….” As much as he considered himself a christian, he nearly had a goddamn heart attack, so God would have to let him go for that one.

The Omega held a pine cone in his hand and weakly threw it at his mate with a tired smile.

“Told you,” he muttered then. 

Andre knew what the rest of that sentence was, not that he’d grace him with acknowledging it, instead he wrapped an arm under his middle and pulled Semir to his wobbly feet.

They made their way inside and Andre kicked the door shut behind them.

After some brief scavenging, they found blankets, some rations and spare clothing and Semir was more than happy to wrap himself in the oversized jacket in which barely the tips of his fingers poked out.

It took awfully long for him to warm up, but eventually Semir felt well enough to explore the cabin’s setup. Andre took the weapons off the dead men in the meantime and when he returned back to the cabin, Semir was hunched over a map he found on the table. Andre appreciated the back view for a moment and then closed the door, causing his mate to look over his shoulder briefly.

“I think it’s safe to say we’re nowhere near Cologne,” he said while Andre set the weapons aside and walked towards him. Semir propped himself on his elbows, frowning slightly while he read the various road names.” Kandel, Minfeld, Langenberg...Isn’t there a reservation near Langenberg?” 

Andre’s arms snuck under his shirt as he leaned over his back and kissed the nape of his neck.

“Yeah, Bienwald.” He affirmed, running his hands over his husband’s sides appreciatively before stepping away and letting Semir straighten up.

“That’s South of Germany, we’re hours away from Cologne if that’s the case. Have you been to Beinwald before?” 

Andre walked over to the cameras, but they seemed to be broken as no matter what he pushed, nothing but static appeared on the screen.

“Couple times when I was a kid, it’s a huge forest.”

“It might be easier to navigate it if we have a road to follow, I doubt there’s more than one way in to this place.” Semir muttered and looked over the map once more.”At least we’ve got a car now.”

They both raised their heads from what they were doing at the sound of a radio crackling. Searching for where it is, Andre spotted it near the kitchen counter and walked over to grab it, carrying it back to Semir so they could both listen.

" _-ost them. They weren't found in the maze and one of the patrols reported finding two pairs of footprints, Burrowers probably went after them, we need everyone to search!_ "

" _They're the last of our worries right now. We have six deceased in the northwest checkpoint, every patrol is to head out to the gates, the Burrowers broke through the fence._ "

Andre and Semir looked at each other. The gates?

"How often can you say that you used a Ford Escape to escape,” Semir chuckled when he climbed into the passenger seat of the SUV.

Andre rolled his eyes and walked over to the driver's side.

"So," he said once they were both settled in, "From my understanding of what we gathered so far is that we’ve got one way out and everyone including their grandmother heading towards it.”

Semir opened the map on his lap.

They still didn’t have a clear idea where they were, but he seemed to suspect their location from their current surroundings.

“There’s no river around here and no clear open road, but the bunker would still have to be close enough to civilization for supplies, adding that up to how much fuel it takes to get there and back, I’m guessing - and don’t take my word for it, that we’d be somewhere around there,” he circled his finger around a spot on the map when Andre looked over.

He glanced at the distance from the nearest town skeptically.

“Well, hopefully it’s closer than that, we’ve only got half a tank and no phone.”

Semir patted him on the arm.

“You were pretty positive when we got out of the bunker, let’s keep it that way.”

“Knowing your sense of direction…”

“What’s wrong with my sense of direction?” Semir said, offended.

Andre smirked and started the car,headed down the dirt road.

They approached another cabin not long after and at first glance it appeared to be abandoned, no car in sight and nobody walked out at the sound of approaching engine. As Andre drove by however, they could see why.

Blood and gore smeared all over the cabin's walls, door reduced to splinters and windows broken. Sliced up bodies laid sprawled in grotesque positions all around the cabin, their wounds absolutely devastating.

"I guess we found the northwest checkpoint...." Semir murmured, disturbed.

Andre said nothing. There wasn't honestly much to say, even though these people were criminals for what they've done, it was still a pretty horrific way to go.

It only took about five kilometers, when they came upon another long line of fence. On the other side, a visible asphalt road. The last obstacle to their freedom.

Andre lined up the car and stepped on the gas, breaking through clean and only barely scraping the paint on the bonnet of the car. The car jumped a little before it came to a clearing and they were out. They both exhaled loudly.

"That was almost worryingly easy," Andre noted.

"And that’s bad?" Semir queried,”They’re all distracted with the runaway Burrowers to bother us.”

"It’s weird, that’s all."

Semir smiled beside him and raised the map again to see if he could figure out where they were now, when Andre’s attention was dragged to something moving behind behind the car. 

The passenger window shattered within seconds without a warning and Andre got a face full of a very long, bloody machete which only missed him by a literal finger, Semir was screaming beside him and Andre felt excruciating pain in the back of his mind and without thinking, shifted gears and slammed the gas, forcing the car in reverse and sending the machete along with its owner violently slam forward. The Burrower let go of his weapon when he was thrown forward and Andre shifted gears once again, this time driving forward, not once taking his eyes off of the large man on the ground, fully determined to hit the fucker.

He could hear Semir’s agonizing continuous cries beside him, but knew if he didn’t do this now, the bastard would get up again and shoving his Alpha’s snarling voice in the back of his mind, he kept his attention on the task at hand. The impact was quick and hard and the large SUV struggled to drive over the living obstacle, but after a second the rear wheel lifted and drove over the Burrower too and Andre was free to continue on. He didn’t stop to check if he killed him, instead he kept driving on and only glanced in the rear view mirror to see the body unmoving and sprawled on the ground. His senses were going crazy and his foot itched on the brake pedal, wanting to stop, wanting to care for his mate, but they weren’t safe as long as they were running distance away from the damn entrance to that hellhole.

But Semir’s whimpers quickly became unbearable and Andre only managed to drive the short stretch of the road, just far enough for the body of the Burrower to disappear out of their view, before the Alpha slammed on the brakes, forcing the car to a screeching halt, the violent jolt of the car drawing another pained cry out of his already injured mate.

Only then did he finally look at Semir and saw him clutching his right arm to his chest tightly. He couldn’t see the injury with Semir trying to stop the bleeding, but he felt the intense sparks of pain in the back of his mind from his Omega's distress and that was telling enough that things weren’t good.

“Shit, hold on, Semir,” Andre quickly got out and opened the trunk, rummaging through it for the first aid.

When he finally found it, he ran over to the passenger’s side and opened the door.

Blood was absolutely  _ everywhere _ .

“Show me your arm!” He barked when Semir kept clutching the heavily bleeding limb to his chest, tears already springing up to his eyes. When he failed to do so, Andre just grabbed his arm and forced it away from him, cursing when he saw the deep slice across the forearm. He worked quickly with his hands already becoming covered in the sticky red liquid, bandaging the wound tightly with the entire roll of bandages provided in the first aid kit and even as he used the last one, he could see the blood still slightly seeping through but eventually coming to a stop.

Andre tossed the first aid in the back seat and placed his hand on Semir’s cheek, drawing his attention.

“You’ll be okay, alright? We’re almost out of here and the bleeding stopped.” He reassured him.

“Yeah?” Semir gasped, clearly doing his best not to look down at the bloody mess and Andre frankly didn’t want him to either, so he opened the back seat and grabbed a blanket they threw in there on the way out of the cabin, placing it over his mate’s lap in a pathetic attempt to cover up the severity of the situation.

“Yeah, we’re getting out of here, little bird, just hold on.”

He wiped his bloody hands on his shirt carelessly then and rushed back to the driver’s side, throwing one look back to the direction they came from. Nobody was following them, not yet, they had to get out of there immediately.

He hit the gas and the car took off just as violently as it stopped moments before. The map now laid ruined somewhere under Semir’s feet, so Andre was driving blindly through the sea of trees, no idea if there was anything ahead or if they were going to drive aimlessly further into the forest.

“Andre slow down before you crash, your hands are shaking.” Semir told him after a moment and reached out instinctively for the Alpha’s wrist.

“I’m fine,” Andre growled and felt his grip on the steering wheel tighten to the point of his knuckles going white. He was angry, so angry that he didn’t even know at what anymore.

“You’re not fine-”

“I’m completely fine! It’s not my blood that’s all over the fucking car, is it?!” Andre snapped.

He couldn’t even look at his mate then, he could feel the pitiful look he was receiving without needing to see it.

Still, he couldn’t stop the feeling of regret when Semir silently pulled his hand back and used it to cradle his injured arm instead.

Andre slowed down the car to a more reasonable speed for the bumpy road.

They drove on in an uncomfortable silence for a long while which only brewed Andre’s regret over his outburst to a boil and soon he was shooting glances in Semir’s direction, surprised to meet the Omega’s still concerned gaze. He didn’t seem hurt by his outburst at all.

Still.

“How’re you feeling?” Andre asked, hoping his genuine worry was coming across, but then again, Semir could read him just as well as he could.

“You know exactly how I’m feeling.” Semir replied, it wasn’t bitter, just a matter of fact answer.

True.

He was in pain, both physical and emotional. The cut left a burning sensation in his skin and every now and then Semir would turn away as if Andre not being able to see the pain on his face would make things any better than him being able to feel it.

The machete remained laying across the dashboard, the ugly serrated blade looking rusty, covered in blood, Semir’s blood to be exact. Andre saw his mate looking at the thing just as intently as he was for the past ten minutes and leaned forward, grabbing the offending item and throwing it in the back of the car where neither of them could see it.

The road stretched far with no cars coming their way yet, it was still early in the morning, the sun only barely came up and people were only just getting up to welcome a new day while Andre and Semir were more than ready to finally put an end to theirs. The night filled with terror and fight for their lives left them both completely exhausted, if it hadn’t been for Semir’s injury, Andre would have just driven them to a nearby hotel and just crash there before dealing with the aftermath of their ordeal.

At least they were out of there finally.

Andre looked down when he felt Semir’s hand reach for his, it wasn’t the most comforting sight with the dried blood all over both of their hands, but Andre raised his to entwine their fingers properly and saw the small appreciative smile appear on his husband’s lips.

“I still feel bad about the ring.” Semir said.

Andre glanced down at where his hand still bore his wedding ring, while Semir’s hand had nothing.

“I know it saved our lives back there, but still…” he shrugged, visibly feeling sheepish about it. “It’ll be weird when they don’t match anymore.”

Andre watched him silently for a short moment, he could hardly judge his husband for being sentimental over a ring he had made for him. It was a copy of the ring from Andre’s mother that he wore around his neck for years and eventually lost at sea in Mallorca.

He looked ahead on the road then, squeezing Semir’s hand tightly.

“We’ll just have it made again, it’s not a big deal.” He reassured him.

After all, he still had his copy, sure it wouldn’t be as perfect as the one Semir had at first since each copy had its flaws, but frankly, Andre didn’t care, it was just a ring, their bond held much more value than a piece of sentimental jewelry.

It was then when their little moment was abruptly shattered by a sound of the car’s radio crackling to life and the two jerked apart, looking at it in surprise.

At first there was nothing but static, but when Semir’s hand reached for it, a voice, uncomfortably calm, came through.

“ _ And where do you think you’re going? Who said you could leave? _ ”

The two men exchanged a startled look as the voice carried on.

“ _ We’ve got our eyes on you, the hunt’s not over yet. _ ”

Andre raised his eyes to look in the rear view mirror and felt cold dread wash over him when he saw two black SUVs catching up to them.

Fuck.

One look at Semir was enough to tell Andre he will not stop.

He gripped the steering wheel tightly and he reached for the receiver, exchanging a look with Semir.

“Maybe it’s not,” he replied to their pursuers, already feeling the adrenaline bubbling up within him as the Alpha fought for control once more,”but those are our hunting grounds, pal.” With that he placed the receiver back and pushed the gas pedal all the way to the floor.


End file.
